6805 —הוראות חג הפסח: יציאה מן הקצה אל הקצה, וחירות מפחד "מה יאמר הגוי"

B"H, 11 Nissan, 5719
Brooklyn, N.Y.

To our brethren, the Children of Israel, in every place – may G‑d be upon them, may they live!^[1]

Shalom u'Vrachah!

As we draw near to the festival of our liberation, the Festival of Matzos, "the Season of our Freedom"^[2], I send my blessing to Jews everywhere: may the festival bring into the everyday life of each and every man and woman a true and full liberation from all worries and disturbances, material and spiritual; and may they rise to the inner content of the Exodus from Egypt, as the prelude to the receiving of the Torah, fulfilling the Divine promise: "When you bring the people out of Egypt, you will serve G‑d upon this mountain"^[3] (that is, as you lead the people out of Egypt, you will serve G‑d on this mountain – Sinai).

* * *

The matters of Torah and mitzvos are, it goes without saying – like the One Above who gave them to us – infinite and eternal. So too their directives, which one can and must learn from Torah and mitzvos, are valid in all times and in all lands; and all the more so a mitzvah and so all-embracing a matter as the festival of Pesach – the Exodus from Egypt – which one must call to mind every day^[4].

One of the lessons of the festival of Pesach is that a Jew has the powers, and is actually able, in a short time – in a moment – to transform himself "from one end to the other" (from one extreme to its very opposite).

Tanach and the words of our Sages describe at length the bitterness of the Egyptian exile and the depths to which the Jews had then fallen.

Enslaved in a land from which not even one single slave had ever been able to escape^[5]; under the complete power of a Pharaoh who bathed in the blood of Jewish children^[6]; in the greatest poverty^[7], and broken by decrees and by crushing labor – labor that broke the body together with the soul^[8] – and behold, Pharaoh's power is broken, the liberation of the entire people comes, and the liberation is "with an upraised hand" and "with great wealth"^[9] (with pride, and accompanied by the greatest wealth).

The redemption in the spiritual sense was likewise from one extreme to the other: Jews were sunk in the forty-nine gates of impurity, down to the level of idolatry^[10] – and behold, the One Above reveals Himself to them "in His glory and His very Self"^[11], and within a few counted weeks they all stand at Mount Sinai, on the highest level of holiness and prophecy, and the One Above speaks to every single one of them directly, without any intermediary, not even Moshe Rabbeinu^[12] – and says: "I am the L‑rd your G‑d!"^[13]

* * *

The teaching and directives that follow from this are:

Whatever the state of a Jew may be – as a community or as an individual – and however the situation may look by the reckoning of human intellect, a Jew must every day call to mind the Exodus from Egypt: strive and act for complete freedom and redemption – a redemption, moreover, "with an upraised hand and with great wealth" – from every kind of enslavement and from all the obstacles on the way out of his "Egypt", until he becomes "a kingdom of priests and a holy nation"^[14] and receives the Torah – all "as in the days of your going out of the land of Egypt"^[15].

One must not stop, or waver on the way; one must not be content with the first achievements; one must go further, climb higher and higher, until one hears and feels the "I am the L‑rd your G‑d".

* * *

These directives are especially important and timely in our day, when one notices a movement – not only of individuals but of whole groups and strata – to free themselves from spiritual enslavement and to go on the path of true freedom: complete liberation from the dread of "What will the gentile say?",

– the gentile in the plain sense of the word, the gentile talk of a Jew who has lost his way, and the gentile within oneself – the evil inclination.

To them the call of Pesach is: Do not stop, go further, climb higher – and "with an upraised hand".

And then it is certain that you will go out to freedom "with our young and with our old, with our sons and with our daughters"^[16], "with great wealth".

With the blessing for a kosher and happy Pesach, and that speedily in our days the promise be fulfilled: "As in the days of your going out of the land of Egypt, I will show [you] wonders" – through Moshiach, our righteous redeemer.

Menachem Schneerson

The Rebbe's notes

The inner content (אינערלעכען אינהאלט): Shemos Rabbah 3:4; ibid. 24:2.

Call to mind every day (דערמאנען יעדן טאג): See the Shulchan Aruch of the Alter Rebbe, Orach Chaim 67.

One single slave (איין איינציקער קנעכט): Mechilta, Yisro, on 18:11.

Bathed (באדט זיך): Shemos Rabbah, end of ch. 1. And see Targum Yonasan on Shemos 2:23.

The greatest poverty (גרעסטער ארימקייט): See Ramban on Devarim 16:3.

Together with the soul (מיט דער נשמה): See Torah Or, beginning of Parshas Shemos, the explanation of "And they embittered their lives"; Or HaTorah there.

The greatest wealth (גרעסטען רייכטום): See Bechoros 5b.

Forty-nine… idolatry (מ"ט... עבודה זרה): Zohar Chadash, Yisro (31a; at length in Tzror HaMor, cited in the Shelah, Tractate Pesachim, section "Mah Nishtanah"). Mechilta on Shemos 14:29.

In His glory and His very Self (בכבודו ובעצמו): The Malchus of the Ein Sof, and the Essence of the Ein Sof that precedes the tzimtzum (the Rebbe Rashab, of blessed memory).

The highest level (העכסטער מדרגה): Compare Rambam, Laws of the Foundations of the Torah, ch. 8; the Maamar Eidus of the Tzemach Tzedek (printed in his Sefer HaChakirah).

As in the days (ווי אין): Michah 7:15. See the discourse beginning "Kimei Tzeischa", 5708 (of my father-in-law, the Rebbe).

With our young (מיט דער יוגענט): Shemos 10:9.

Publisher's notes

Printed in the Haggadah shel Pesach with Likkutei Taamim, Minhagim u'Biurim (Kehot, 5747), p. 585.

To our brethren, the Children of Israel (צו אחינו בני ישראל): See also below, letter 6816 (to Eliezer Steinman, Erev Pesach 5719, to which the Rebbe attached a copy of this letter), and letter 6813 (telegram to the Tzeirei Agudas Chabad convention, 13 Nissan, in the same phrases, "with an upraised hand and with great wealth").

To our brethren, the Children of Israel (צו אחינו בני ישראל): See also below, letter 6824 (to Mr. Yitzchak Edel, 26 Nissan 5719, to whom the Rebbe sent a copy of this general letter).

Notes

1. In every place – may G‑d be upon them, may they live (בכל אתר ואתר ה' עליהם יחיו): בכל אתר ואתר (Aramaic), "in every single place". "May G‑d be upon them, may they live" follows the wording of Yeshayahu 38:16: אדני עליהם יחיו.

2. The Season of our Freedom (זמן חירותנו): The wording of the Pesach festival prayers: את יום חג המצות הזה, זמן חירותנו, "this day of the Festival of Matzos, the Season of our Freedom".

3. "When you bring the people out of Egypt…" (בהוציאך את העם ממצרים תעבדון את האלקים על ההר הזה): Shemos 3:12: "And He said: For I will be with you, and this is the sign for you that I have sent you: when you bring the people out of Egypt, you will serve G‑d upon this mountain." The Midrash (Shemos Rabbah 3:4, cited in the Rebbe's note on "the inner content"): מה שאמרת באיזה זכות אוציאם ממצרים, הוי יודע שבזכות התורה שהן עתידים לקבל על ידך בהר הזה הם יוצאים משם, "As for what you asked – in what merit shall I bring them out of Egypt? – know that in the merit of the Torah which they are to receive through you on this mountain they go out from there." And ibid. 24:2, when Israel wished to return to Egypt, Moshe told them: בואו ופרעו את השטר, "Come and pay the bond," for G‑d had said, "When you bring the people out of Egypt, you will serve G‑d upon this mountain." The inner content of the Exodus is the preparation for receiving the Torah.

4. Call to mind every day (דערמאנען יעדען טאג): Based on Devarim 16:3: "so that you remember the day of your going out of the land of Egypt all the days of your life." The Shulchan Aruch of the Alter Rebbe (Orach Chaim 67:1, cited in the Rebbe's note): שמצות עשה מן התורה לזכור יציאת מצרים בכל יום ביום ובלילה, "for it is a positive commandment of the Torah to remember the Exodus from Egypt every day, by day and by night."

5. Not even one single slave (איין איינציקער קנעכט): The Mechilta (Yisro, on "Now I know that G‑d is greater than all the gods", Shemos 18:11; cited in the Rebbe's note): מתחלה, לא היה עבד יכול לברוח ממצרים, ועכשיו הוציא ששים רבוא בני אדם ממצרים, "At first no slave could escape from Egypt, and now He has brought six hundred thousand people out of Egypt."

6. Bathed in the blood of Jewish children (באדט זיך אין בלוט פון אידישע קינדער): Shemos Rabbah 1:34 (end of the chapter; cited in the Rebbe's note), on "and the Children of Israel sighed": Pharaoh's magicians told him, אין לך רפואה אם לא נשחוט מקטני ישראל מאה וחמשים בערב ומאה וחמשים בבקר, ורחוץ בדמיהם שתי פעמים ביום, "You have no cure unless we slaughter of the little ones of Israel a hundred and fifty in the evening and a hundred and fifty in the morning, and you bathe in their blood twice a day." Targum Yonasan on Shemos 2:23: ופקיד לקטלא בוכריא דבני ישראל בגין למסחי באדמיהון, "and he commanded to kill the firstborn of the Children of Israel in order to bathe in their blood."

7. The greatest poverty (גרעסטער ארימקייט): Ramban on Devarim 16:3 (cited in the Rebbe's note), on "the bread of poverty": והיא עני זכר כי היו במצרים בלחם צר ומים לחץ, "and it is 'poverty' – a remembrance that in Egypt they lived on meager bread and scant water."

8. Broke the body together with the soul (צוברעכט דעם גוף מיט דער נשמה): On Shemos 1:14, "and they embittered their lives with hard labor". In Torah Or, beginning of Parshas Shemos (cited in the Rebbe's note): "וימררו את חייהם" – היא התורה: כי היא חיינו, "'And they embittered their lives' – this is the Torah, for it is our life." The bondage reached not only the body but their "lives", the life of the soul.

9. "With an upraised hand" and "with great wealth" (ביד רמה וברכוש גדול): "With an upraised hand": Shemos 14:8, "and the Children of Israel were going out with an upraised hand". "With great wealth": Bereishis 15:14, "and afterwards they will go out with great wealth". The Gemara (Bechoros 5b, cited in the Rebbe's note): שאין לך כל אחד ואחד מישראל, שלא היו עמו תשעים חמורים לובים, טעונים מכספה וזהבה של מצרים, "there was not a single Jew who did not have with him ninety Libyan donkeys laden with the silver and gold of Egypt."

10. The forty-nine gates of impurity, down to the level of idolatry (מ"ט שערי טומאה, ביז צו דער מדרגה פון עבודה זרה): Zohar Chadash, Yisro (cited in the Rebbe's note): דודאי ישראל כד הוו במצרים, אסתאבו ואתטנפו גרמיהון בכל זיני מסאבו, עד דהוו שראן תחות ארבעים ותשע חילי דמסאבותא, "for surely when Israel were in Egypt they defiled themselves with every kind of impurity, until they dwelt under forty-nine forces of impurity." On idolatry, the Mechilta (Beshalach, on "and the Children of Israel walked on dry land in the midst of the sea", Shemos 14:29): היו מלאכי השרת תמהים, אמרו: רבון כל העולמים, בני אדם עובדי עבודה זרה מהלכין ביבשה בתוך הים!, "The ministering angels were astonished and said: Master of all the worlds, people who worship idols are walking on dry land in the midst of the sea!"

11. "In His glory and His very Self" (בכבודו ובעצמו): The wording of the Haggadah: "And G‑d brought us out of Egypt – not through an angel, not through a seraph, and not through a messenger, but the Holy One, blessed be He, in His glory and His very Self." The Rebbe's note explains, in the name of the Rebbe Rashab (R. Shalom DovBer): "in His glory" – the Malchus of the Ein Sof; "and His very Self" – the Essence of the Ein Sof that precedes the tzimtzum.

12. Without any intermediary, not even Moshe Rabbeinu (אן קיין פארמיטלונג, אפילו ניט פון משה רבנו): See Rambam, Laws of the Foundations of the Torah, ch. 8 (cited in the Rebbe's note), 8:1: ובמה האמינו בו? במעמד הר סיני, שעינינו ראו ולא זר, ואזנינו שמעו ולא אחר, "And through what did they believe in him? Through the Stand at Mount Sinai, where our own eyes saw, and not a stranger's, and our own ears heard, and not another's"; "and so it says: Face to face G‑d spoke with you."

13. "I am the L‑rd your G‑d" (אנכי ה' אלקיך): The first of the Ten Commandments, Shemos 20:2: "I am the L‑rd your G‑d, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage."

14. "A kingdom of priests and a holy nation" (ממלכת כהנים וגוי קדוש): Shemos 19:6: "And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation."

15. "As in the days of your going out of the land of Egypt" (ווי אין די טעג פון דיין ארויסגיין פון לאנד מצרים): The Rebbe renders into Yiddish Michah 7:15: כימי צאתך מארץ מצרים אראנו נפלאות, "As in the days of your going out of the land of Egypt, I will show [you] wonders" (quoted again at the close of the letter). See the discourse beginning "Kimei Tzeischa", 5708, of the Previous Rebbe (cited in the Rebbe's note).

16. "With our young and with our old…" (מיט דער יוגענט און מיט די אלטע): The Rebbe renders into Yiddish Shemos 10:9: ויאמר משה בנערינו ובזקנינו נלך, בבנינו ובבנותינו, "And Moshe said: With our young and with our old we will go, with our sons and with our daughters."

Summary

The Rebbe's general letter for Pesach 5719. The Exodus teaches that a Jew can turn himself around in a moment, from one extreme to the other – as Israel went from the depths of Egyptian bondage and the forty-nine gates of impurity to the Revelation at Sinai within weeks. Every Jew must daily go out of his own "Egypt", never stopping at the first achievements, and free himself from the fear of "what will the gentile say" – outside and within.